We Were the Kings and Queens of Promise
by XxAbbyXStarxX
Summary: My first upload to FF! Basically just a series of drabbles featuring my oc at Whammy's. Takes place before Near and Mello leave. Friendship/fluff/goofy/sentimental stuff. Possible pairings later on. Mello/OC/Near, Sometimes Matt.
1. Chapter 1

I sat comfortably in between the two. Mello and Near, despite their distaste for one another, were probably more alike than they cared to admit…if they even noticed. How I managed to get along with both of them equally nobody had ever really figured out, including me. One of the girls had made a big deal teasing me about it earlier that day; something about me being a flirt, or a kiss-up, or something. I hadn't really been paying attention, since she was only talking to be obnoxious, and I was busy helping (more like watching, but whatever) Near build one of his famous architecture a la dice.

I sighed as the summer night air swept through the vacant grounds, cooling off my neck. The girl's words must have bothered me more than I cared to admit, either that or Near was a mind-reader (I had to wonder, sometimes), because soon I could feel his dark eyes boring holes into me.

"You shouldn't let her bother you."

Mello took another bite out of his chocolate bar and snorted, "are you _still_ thinking about that?!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not_ bothered_ by it. But I _was _thinking about it. It actually is kinda weird to be able to get along with both of you, ya know," I laid back on the cool stone of the landing, my hands behind my head, "I mean you two being mortal enemies and all." Mello didn't even look at Near, but even from my position I could see his lip curl in disgust at the reminder that his rival was only a few feet away from him. Near's expression remained blank as always; his hand deftly twirling a lock of hair. I sighed, which caused Mello to look back at me, a smirk on his face.

"It's just because you're completely bipolar, psycho."

I sat up, smirking back at him. "I prefer the term emotionally varied." Mello took another bite of chocolate and snorted with a look of amused disbelief that I had somehow convinced myself I was sane. I smiled and leaned back on my hands. I watched as an evil glint filled Mello's eye. I looked away, and tried to ignore it, until his voice cut the silence.

"She's right, though."

I turned my attention back to him, and he smirked. "Don't deny it. Even I'm amazed at how much of a flirt you can be."

I felt anger build up inside me, but I swallowed it down. Getting heated up over Mello's words would only egg him on. He knew how much I hated being called a flirt. I don't know how he knew, but he did. He always knew exactly how to push everyone's buttons, especially mine. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "If you're going to start believing all of that crap too Mello, I'm going to have to knock brains back into you again." I turned to look at him again, the smirk still on his face.

"You're way too violent for a girl you know." A lot of smart comebacks for that flooded into my head (especially involving that stupid girly laugh of his). My face must have given away my thoughts, and he glared at me, silently daring me to voice what we both knew I was thinking. I decided that nothing I came up with would get me off without a good knock on the head, so in the end I spent my energy trying desperately to hide my smirk. It didn't work. I bit my lip, and tried to contain my laugh as his eyes narrowed. My goodness, he had a look that could make children cry. In the end, I gave up, and burst out laughing, leaving my face plastered with a huge grin. I stuck out my tongue at him, and leaned my head against Near's shoulder. I could feel Near stiffen against the action, but he didn't push me away. Mello looked like he was about to say something to continue being a jerk, when Matt opened the door behind us, his orange goggles reflecting the porch lights.

"Mello! Show's about to start!" Against Near's shoulder, I sighed. I didn't know what the show was called, only that involved a lot of screaming and shooting, and that it wasn't good to be within 100 ft. of it if one wanted to sleep. Which was unfortunate since my room was right next to Mello's. The show aired every Friday night at 11:00 pm. It had been going on for about a month now, and even though I usually didn't sleep until midnight anyway, the lack of peace was starting to wear on me. Tonight happened to be marathon, ending with a special new episode, putting the ending time somewhere between 3 and 4 in the morning. Whoopee. Matt seemed to genuinely enjoy the show, but sometimes I could swear Mello let him watch it on his TV (Matt's TV had broken recently) solely because he knew it annoyed me. I was probably just being paranoid, though. Most likely Mello really did like the show, and the fact that it annoyed me was just icing on the cake. It was unlikely that Mello would have the patience to sit through a show he didn't like; no matter how much it annoyed me. Besides, shooting and blowing things up seemed like something he would enjoy.

Mello got up and started up the stairs. I shifted my head on Near's shoulder, and watched him out of the corner of my eye. Halfway up the stairs he stopped and turned, his eyes shifting to my head on Near's shoulder. A knowing smirk formed on his face, as if I had just given undeniable proof that he was right about me being a flirt. I lifted my head to say something, but before I could think of a fitting remark, he turned again, and followed Matt into the orphanage.

I clenched my teeth, and pounded my fists on my knees. "_Argh_, he irritates me soooo much!" Beside me, Near stopped twirling his hair, and was silent a moment before replying.

"Then why do you insist on his company?" If you'd only been paying attention to the way he'd said it, instead of what he said, you'd have never guessed it was a question; his voice as monotonous as always.

I sighed, trying to relax. "I don't know…it's just 'cause I like him, I guess." Near raised a brow. "Not like that!" I threw my hands in the air in frustration. "Seriously, why does everybody think that? And you Near, of all people!" He shrugged, his white, oversized top fluttering slightly in the summer breeze.

"You do seem rather close."

I eyed him closely, trying to decipher his words. If there was one thing I had learned about Near, it was that he always left more unsaid than not. His dark eyes gazed, unseeing, at the winding drive leading out of the large, iron gates. He became aware of my eyes on him, and immediately his hand found a lock of hair. "You mean that even though I spend an equal amount of time with both of you, I'm closer to Mello." He didn't answer; the snow white lock twirling incessantly around his finger. Either I was completely wrong, or I had hit the nail exactly on the head, so to speak. I decided it was probably the latter. I sighed and laid back down on the landing. "I don't consider myself closer to Mello; I just know more about him than I do you, because you never tell my anything."

His dark eyes finally slid over in my direction. "That isn't true," he stated blankly. "I tell you things."

Hmm…that was probably true. Or at least he considered it telling me. But if things weren't stated completely obviously, it was pretty likely that they went over the top of my head. I rolled my head to the side so I could see him better.

"Yeah, but you never say anything straight out Near; you know I'm not good with implications." A calculating glint flashed in his usually emotionless eyes.

"Yes. I am aware." His tone of voice never changed, but I knew he was teasing me. I brought my knees up, and hugged them close to my chest, rocking gently back and forth on my back.

I smiled, "Come on Near, even you can't claim to be a social genius."

His eyes gazed back out onto the dim landscape. "Perhaps not; but you cannot claim to be either a 'social' genius, or an academic genius."

Ouch. I rolled onto my side, facing him, my knees still hugged to my chest. "Then why am I here, hmm?"

"I would be interested in your theory."

I grinned, and waited silently until he turned to face me, that same strange glint still flashing in his eyes before disappearing again.

Sometimes, he would get the same look when he solved a new puzzle, or succeeded at something he had been working on for a while. It would be there one moment, and then it would be gone again; his eyes back to being as emotionless as always. It wasn't much, but it was one of the few signs where I could tell Near was happy.

I giggled, "Because I'm smarter than the average bear?" I knew he would get the joke, cartoons being something I had forcefully dragged him into, though I refused to believe he didn't actually enjoy it. He had long ago given up on giving me the 'TV rots your brains' speech, though his was more like; "The simplicity of this form of entertainment provides no stimulation to my mental capabilities, and it would be much more logical to…" blah, blah, blah, you get the idea. The point was he had given up on trying to convince me of the pointlessness of cartoons, and had almost quit complaining entirely when I dragged him down to one of the Wammy's House's few TV's (apparently Near wasn't the only one who thought TV would melt your brain).

He only raised a brow at my response, which resulted in me prodding him teasingly in the side; "Oh, come on Near, even you can't deny I scored well on the entrance test." I had, (something I was very proud of, considering it was mostly just a stroke of luck), and although I had scored nowhere near Near (haha), or many of the other kids at Wammy's it was a solid of enough score to get me in, which is all I had really cared about.

As soon as I had stepped into Wammy's to take the test, I knew I had found someplace special. I had a hard time fitting in anywhere, and everybody at Wammy's was so accepting; probably because most of them were just as weird as I was (any time I brought that up, Mello would say it was because I had a 'genius' personality, without the brains, which essentially just meant I was weird and hard to get along with). I was not a genius by any means, but I was a great deal smarter than most people. All it took was questioning a few kids about the test before I took it (yeah, cheating) and I found out that most of the questions were trick questions, even if they weren't worded to look like it. That little bit of information was all it took, and I was able to figure out most of the rest of it on my own, leaving me with a pretty solid score. Roger had probably found out about me questioning the kids afterwards, but he had never thrown me out. Mello had refused to stop bringing it up, though, often wondering aloud how an 'airhead' like me made it into Wammy's. When I had pointed out that an airhead would never have been able to get a good score with so little information, he had changed it to something about me being a 'cheater,' which I had ignored for a while. The first time he'd brought it up in front of Near, however, I'd had it. I couldn't really deny his point, like the first time, so I went with one of my rules of life;

Rule: If someone accuses you of being or doing something that tarnishes your image, and you can't deny it, accept it and make it your own (you'd be surprised at how often this works).

So the one day when Near had finally agreed to let me 'help' him with one of his card towers, and Mello had decided to bring up the 'cheat' factor again, I let him have it. I forget my exact response, but let's just say Mello got owned. That was another time I'd thrown another one of my 'definitions' (refer to aforementioned 'emotionally varied' term, haha) at him, and told him I wasn't a 'cheat,' I simply "adjusted exceptionally well to my surroundings, providing me adequate space to surpass others." This had earned a good role eye from Mello, and the faintest ghost of smiles from Near. It was the first (and one of the very few) times I had ever seen him smile.

But back to the point; I was definitely not anywhere near as smart as Near or Mello, but I _was_ smart. Brains didn't really matter too much to me though, and as long as I stayed smart enough to stay with my friends, that was good enough for me.

Near was silent for a while, and I figured he had gotten lost in is thoughts, as he often did. I watched him silently for a while, before prodding him gently; "Near?" He inclined his head ever so slightly towards me. "Tell me the latest about the case." It wasn't uncommon for some of the smarter kids at Wammy's (read; possible successors of L) to take on some of the 'simpler' cases (That term always made me laugh. They were always cases none of the police could figure out, they would only have been 'simpler' to L) for practice. Near had been working on one of these cases for about a week now, and I had succeeded in getting him to tell me all about it. It was one of the few things he would talk about relatively freely. I had been following this case closely. I always would ask Near for the latest developments and ask him all the questions I had about how he had figured everything out. This was how I had succeeded in 'suckering' Near to teach me logic (Haha, I wish. He probably already figured out my reason behind always asking him about his cases.) Regardless of my reasons, though, he was always willing to answer my questions. That was one of the many good things about Near; his patience was profound.

True to tradition, Near updated me on all the latest developments in the case, as well as his opinions as to what was soon to play out. As always, I frequently interrupted him (much to his annoyance,) to ask about how he had arrived at such and such conclusion, or why such and such course of action was taken. And, as always, he took my frequent interruptions in stride, carefully explaining things in more detail until I had the whole case set out clearly in my head.

I still lay on my side on the landing, legs curled up to my chest, my head on my arm. Near still sat on the first step, hugging one leg to his chest. I watched the breeze ruffling the back of his shirt, my fingernail scratching monotonously at the cold brick beneath me, and went over the case in my head. "So you think that the murderer is actually the chief of police?"

"Yes."

"And that's why he was never suspected?"

"Correct."

"But what about all of the other 'employees' there? Didn't any of them recognize his name or face?"

"It is safe to assume he used an alias when visiting such a place. He always came in late, so there are very few people to identify him. It is also safe to assume they were bribed."

"No loyalty amongst thieves, huh?"

"I suppose not."

"When are you going to confront him?"

"Tomorrow."

"I feel sorry for his family, their reputation will be ruined."

"The only family he has is his wife, and I assure you she does not require your sympathy. It is likely she is just as involved in such dishonorable affairs as her husband."

I sighed. "Oh." The summer breezed danced in the trees. Everything was so quiet at this time of night. The only sound was the crickets chirping, and the soft hum of motors on the far off road. I looked up at the moon, sitting clear in the velvet sky. Its full face looked down, as though to laugh in contempt at mankind. "The world is a strange place, isn't it Near."

He pulled his leg closer to his body. "Yes. It is."


	2. Chapter 2

I was just about to dose off when a bloodcurdling scream jerked me back to reality, followed by a long barrage of bullets. I rolled over and screamed silently into my pillow. How many times was that tonight? Fifteen? Twenty? I groped around on my in-table until I found my phone, knocking off several things in the process. I flipped it on and looked at the time. One forty-five. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, probably smearing the eyeliner I had never washed off.

I had already tried to get Mello to turn the stupid show down, but had no success. At around midnight I had opened their door and told them to tone it down, which resulted in Mello throwing a pillow at me. I had gone back to my room and waited for them to comply. They didn't, which resulted in me throwing a book at Mello, which, I am proud to say, hit him squarely in the head (Don't judge, I get crabby when people make me stay up until one in the morning. Besides, he had his chance.) Anyway, that didn't really succeed in much other than him sending several naughty words my way. Matt was no help. That was just about the time I realized that he had snuck into my room earlier and stolen my whole supply of chocolate ice cream. Again. I hope he gets fat. By that time I was angry enough to have cut his stupid TV's cord, but when I tried to get back into his room, the door was locked.

So that leads me to where I am now: 1:45 in the morning, crabby, and exhausted. Breaking into Mello's room was too much effort, not that I could succeed when I'm this tired anyway. There was no way I'd be falling asleep in here; headphones didn't make any difference (tried that at around midnight). I could sneak downstairs and sleep on one of the couches. But odds were that I'd get discovered by one of the maids that made (maids made, lololol…sorry, its late), rounds at night to make sure everyone stayed in bed, and I'd get sent back to my room. I could tell her what the problem was, but then she'd tell Roger. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to be the reason Roger is woken up in the middle of the night, and that includes me. It had only happened once, to my memory, by some new kid at the orphanage. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. It has been compared to Mello without chocolate. Yeah, that bad.

So that leads me to my last and only hope; Near. He was a whole floor away from Mello's obnoxious show, and if he let me sleep on the floor or something, I might still be able to get some sleep. Decided, I grabbed my giant teddy bear I always slept with, and my phone (since it had my alarm on it), and headed out of my room, careful to lock the door behind me lest Mello try to steal any more of my treats.

I padded quickly down the hall, up the stairs, three doors down another hall, and managed to reach my destination without killing myself in the dark.

I tiptoed softly up to the door, checking the number on it just to make sure I wasn't making a mistake in the dark. I rocked back and forth on my feet uncertainly, already regretting my hasty decision. A soft glow emitted beneath Near's door. He was still up. I hugged my bear close, and sighed. He was probably working on something important. I would just be being obnoxious if I bothered him so early in the morning. There probably wasn't any room for me on his floor anyway, the way it was always crowded with toys and puzzles. Besides, it would only be a couple of more hours, and the show would be over.

I had just decided to tough it out and not bother him, when the door swung open. I jumped, and buried my face behind my bear to block out the bright light that now flooded the hallway, causing my eyes to burn. I blinked a few times, until I felt my eyes had adjusted. A few seconds of dead silence passed, and I peeked over the fur. Near's dark orbs were gazing at me. He looked almost exactly as he always did. The only difference being that his hair was messier than normal, and he had large dark circles under his eyes.

My mouth opened and closed several times as I desperately searched for a good excuse as to why I was standing in front of his door, at, like, two in the morning. I watched as that same faint glint flashed in his eyes, before quickly disappearing. Then Near spoke the absolute very last two words I expected to hear from him at that moment;

"You're late."

My mouth dropped open and I blinked several times. I must have stayed like that for a while, because eventually Near reached out and lifted my lower jaw with his finger to close my mouth.

"That's not very attractive."

I ignored the remark. "…Near?" He raised a brow. "Were you waiting up for me?"

He gave me a look. "Not at all' (Haha, of course not, why would Near ever do anything nice for me? *insert sarcastic voice here*) 'I have been working on something. I simply expected you give up a lot sooner."

Not sure how to take that, I rocked back and forth on my feet uncertainly. "…Does that mean I can stay?"

He opened the door wider and walked back into his room. "Of course."

Feeling relieved (and still a little shocked), I followed Near into his room. My mouth dropped again at the sight that greeted me. The beginning of a huge building, that appeared to be made out of blocks, sat in the middle of the room. It had to take up a good three or four square feet of floor space, and was up to my knees. Several smaller half made buildings sat around it; completed just enough to give an accurate impression of roads and alleyways. I gazed at the massive structure, my eyes wide. It took up pretty much the whole floor space, leaving only a small space where Near sat to work on it. He carefully edged around the structure, and sat back down in the empty space. It took me several moments of staring at it to figure out what it was. "Near, is this the scene of the murder?" I recognized it from his previous descriptions.

He continued meticulously straightening and stacking the blocks. "Yes. I am attempting to recreate the exact scale."

Seriously, how does he have the patience for this kind of thing? I quietly shut the door, and edged around to a corner of the room. "Is there a reason? You're not doubting your deductions, are you?"

He raised a brow, but continued stacking the blocks. "Not at all. However, accusing the chief of police of murder will cause quite a disturbance. I am sure of his guilt, but there is no harm in making sure there is enough evidence to convict him in court. If he were able to convince everyone else he is innocent, it would cause quite a rift between Wammy's and the police, which would undoubtedly have a negative effect on future cases."

I nodded. If Near could prove it was possible for the chief of police to have committed the murder, in spite of his alibi, it would be pretty likely that one of the witnesses would become willing to testify against him. The main defense in the chief's alibi would be that he could not have physically had time to commit the murder at the time it was committed, and make it back to the headquarters when he did. A recreation of that section of town would definitely help to solidify proof of that physical possibility. Besides, Near was always doing something like this when he was going over a case. I yawned, and snapped out of my thoughts, remembering how late it was. "…But Near?"

He stacked another block onto the building, straightening it out carefully. "Yes?"

I sighed, and blinked my bleary eyes. "There's not really anywhere for me to sleep in here."

He rummaged around in the pile of spare blocks next to him, and wordlessly pointed to the bed.

I looked at the bed, then back to him. He continued to rummage around in the pile, ignoring my incredulous look. "What about you?"

He finally seemed to find what he was looking for, and continued stacking the blocks. "I do not plan on sleeping tonight. I am not in any way tired, and it will most likely take until morning to complete this."

Not sleep?! The whole night?! I know he was never one to need a lot of sleep, but that was a little extreme, even for Near. I looked back at the bed. I really shouldn't take his only sleeping space. But, well, I was tired. And I'll admit to not being the most unselfish person. I looked back at Near, who was fully absorbed in his work, and quietly climbed into the bed. I could feel my eyes growing heavier the moment I snuggled under the covers. I hugged my bear close, my head resting on its middle. I watched Near's profile as he continued building, and it wasn't long until, despite the fully lit room, I fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to the soft buzzing of my alarm. I opened my eyes to find my phone, and immediately shut them again, the bright light of the overhead burning them. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over my head. I didn't remember leaving my light on.

I opened my eyes in the slightly dimmer light under the covers. My heart jumped a little when I realized the covers were white, as opposed to my purple ones. Where was I? I lay perfectly still for a few minutes until I remembered. Near; I was in Near's room, and he had left the overhead on because he had been working on one of his projects.

Still unwilling to face the brightness of the room, I groped around in the bed until I found my phone, half knotted up in the covers. I checked the time: seven o'clock. I wonder if Near was downstairs. I listened closely. The soft click-clacking of the blocks had stopped, so at least he wasn't working anymore. However, I could hear faint breathing coming from the other side of the room.

I threw the covers off my head and blinked several times, trying to adjust to the bright light. I looked around the room, and my eyes wide at the sight that greeted me. True to his word, Near had finished his project. A huge, extremely detailed, portion of the city spread across his floor, breathtakingly accurate. The largest building had been completed as well, now up to my elbows. Not seeing Near, I got out of bed, and very carefully edged around the massive structure. There was Near, in the same little corner as he was last night, curled up in a ball and fast asleep.

I smiled. Haha, not sleep my foot. I shivered, and made my way back to the bed. Wammy's was always cold in the early morning. I grabbed a blanket, and, being very careful not to knock anything over, made my way back to Near. Careful not to wake him up, I gently covered his small frame with the blanket, before grabbing my things, and heading back to my own room.

I quickly changed into some fresh clothes, and tidied my side of the room. I didn't have a roommate at the moment, because the girl who had been rooming with me had left Wammy's about a month ago, and no one had come to take her space. I had been enjoying the solitude, and wasn't really looking forward to sharing the room again. But always having a room to yourself was only a privilege for the top three Wammy's students (read: not me). I guess it was supposed to be an incentive to study, or something.

I decided to make my way down to the kitchen, and peeked in on Matt and Mello as I left (they had unlocked their door at some point during the night). They were both sprawled out haphazardly on the floor. The room was a mess, and the TV was still running; now playing paid programing about some latest kitchen utensil. Mello was snoring loudly. I sighed and tiptoed in to turn off the TV. Remembering the ice cream incident, I snuck over to Mello's stash of chocolate. Man, he was low; only a few bars remained. I grabbed one and pocketed it, before heading back downstairs.

I made my way to the kitchen. Some of the oldest kids were already up and milling around, trying to cram in breakfast before their early classes. I waited in the hall outside the backdoor to the kitchen until I was sure nobody was watching, and slipped in. Technically, kids weren't allowed in the kitchen, only the cafeteria, but I had made pretty good friends with the head cook, and as long as I left before anybody saw me, she always let me stay. Near could say whatever he wanted about my social skills, but let me say it took all of five minutes to bribe the cook when I first met her to let me in the kitchen to make my special morning iced coffee. In return I brought her one of the gourmet chocolates I kept secretly stashed in my room every morning. At first it had been just business, but in the few months I've been here, we'd actually become pretty well acquainted. And since none of the other cooks came in until eight, I didn't have to worry about being caught.

I carefully shut the kitchen door behind me. "Linda?" Silence. I made my way around the rows of counters until I heard clanging. I followed the sound to the pantry. "Linda?"

"Oh, there you are!" Linda came out of the dark pantry, her arms loaded with packages of mini cereal boxes, and her dark gray topknot bouncing high on her head. "I was starting to wonder if you were coming this morning."

I caught one of the packages as it slid off. "I'm not that late."

She gave me an incredulous look and headed off towards another part of the kitchen, precariously balancing the load in her arms, "It's seven fifteen; you've never been later than five minutes for your morning coffee, what's up?"

I caught another package as it slid off, "Nothing. I just had trouble sleeping is all. Mello's stupid T.V. show kept me up."

She dumped her load on one of the counters, "Oh? Did you get him to turn it off?"

I shook my head and started on making my coffee, "No (I decided not to mention Matt. I didn't know him that well, but there was no reason to possibly get him in trouble for Mello's attitude). It's alright, though, Near let me stay with him since he was going to be up all night doing something anyway (I still say he was waiting up for my, by the way)." Oops. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. It was one of Roger's top rules that boys and girls did not share rooms. Ever. If I got Near in trouble for his act of kindness he would be seriously mad at me. Actually he probably would be mad that I had told anyone at all. I glanced at Linda to gauge her reaction. She laughed when she saw me looking at her. She knew I had slipped up.

"Double the chocolate, and I didn't hear anything."

I laughed finished making my coffee, pouring it over ice in a tall glass. "You're so easy to bribe, Linda." I stuck a straw in my glass and walked over to her, pulling out Mello's chocolate, "This is all I got for now, but I promise you three of my gourmet chocolates tomorrow."

She down her nose at the plain chocolate bar, but took it anyway. "You're walking on thin ice you know," she said, waving it in my face.

I snatched the chocolate bar back from her and waved it in front of her teasingly, "That sure is something for you to say Linda; or have you forgotten that you're the one daily accepting bribes from a student?"

She huffed and snatched the chocolate back from me, ripping off the packaging and taking a bite out of it. "If you going to start blackmailing me the least you can do is help out and get the milks out of the fridge."

I shrugged and head over to one of the commercial sized fridges. I opened the door and shivered at the wave of cold air before pulling out as many single serving milk carton packages I could carry. I nudged the door shut with my hip and headed by to the counter.

Linda took another bite of the chocolate and looked at it thoughtfully before furrowing her brow, "This doesn't happen to be one of Mello's chocolates."

I gave her a one sided grin and she pointed the bar of chocolate at me, "Are you trying to get me killed!"

I laughed, "It's not like he knows you're the one eating it." I took another sip of coffee; already starting to feel more awake despite my lack of sleep.

She rolled her eyes and took another bite. "Maybe not; but I bet he'll know you're the one who took it, then you'll be in _big_ trouble."

I shrugged and smirked. "It's nothing new. Besides, it'll make the day more interesting. If I get in any big trouble I can just take refuge with Near." I straightened out the milk and cereal cartons on the table; ready to be set out in the cafeteria line.

She shook her head. "How that boy manages to tolerate your escapades at all is beyond me. He's always so quiet and serious; I don't understand how you two get along at all."

I shrugged, "It's a whole lot easier than getting along with Mello."

She picked up one of the packages of cereal and headed over to the cafeteria line, "Yes, but dear, you don't even try to get along with Mello."

I laughed and ended up choking on my coffee, before picking up another package and following her. "Well…I _would_, but he's just so fun to tease."

She picked up another package, "Despite everything, though, you two really do get along well."

I shrugged and took another sip of my coffee, "Yeah…I guess so." I looked at the clock: seven forty-five. I really needed to get going. I grabbed my coffee and headed for the door, "Enjoy the chocolate Linda. I promise I'll have the more tomorrow."

She pointed a finger at me, "You better, or Mello will be the first to hear about you spending the night in Near's room."

I winced. There would be no end to that. I held up my hands in surrender, "All right, all right, no worries. See you tomorrow." I carefully checked to make sure no one was in the hallway before slipping out of the kitchen and heading up to my room.


End file.
